How I went from a spendthrift consumer to a shrewd spender.

Before I write on this topic, I would like to give a mention to @princessbusayo for sparking the idea of today's blog in me. I was reading a post by her about the various categories of spenders and today I am going to discuss how I transformed from one extreme to th other.

Source

See, I used to not be a person who took savings seriously. I spend the moment I have money on my hands no matter how little, it got to an extent that I would even feel an "itch" when I have money and it won't stop bothering me until I spend the money. I spend money on things I don't need, I buy food even when I am not hungry, I buy shoes that I don't need, I even used to dash out money, helping others wasn't even the primary motive of that, it had more to do with the want for me to part with the money! Imagine!

Because I attended a boarding school during my high school days, I used to be given a certain amount of money that was meant to sustain me for like, four to six weeks, you wouldn't believe it if I tell you that I would squander all the money within the first week of resumption. I wanted to save despite knowing that I was a kid. Despite my spending habits, I never had the mentality of "I am just a kid, so I would learn to save when I grow older". I had made several prior attempts at saving by my then sweet tooth always got the better of me. I would feel ashamed of myself because there were kids my age out there who already had that culture. My parents and siblings know the value of money so it wasn't something that I inherited, I guess I picked it up somewhere I don't even know.

When I graduated high school in the year 2019 at the age of 15, I came back home. I was generally idle at the time as I had little or nothing to do most of the time so my mom bought me a mobile phone and would give me some money that would last me for a week which I would spent within three days and still complain for more. Not gonna lie, I was a bit of a spoilt brat at the time. My mom kept up with meeting my demands for sometimes until she stopped giving me money and suggested I look for a job, besides "my mates" have jobs of their own.

I didn't want to work at first but when I realized that she was been serious and that I would receive not even one more penny from her, I asked my elder brother to look for a job for me . It didn't take long him to secure me a sales job at a provision store which I hated but was forced to do to rid me of the spirit of idleness and laziness. The boss in charge of the place was so annoying, he was also so stingy that he wouldn't give me money (my mentality at that time) except my salary which was 7000 naira a month.

During my first month, I had already budgeted how I was going to spend my first salary on frivolities. I planned to buy a full chicken, a chilled chi exotic drink and isi ewu(goat meat peppersoup) but my actualization of my dream was disrupted when my mom told my boss that I would be working for free for the first month.

I almost fucking cried.

No, I think I actually cried!

I felt manipulated and abused😭😭😂😂

My first month budget became my second month budget. I was paid 7000 naira on the last day of my second month and I was so happy. I couldn't wait for the store to close at 6pm so that I would go and have one of the most interesting nights of my life. Chicken and chivita drink were the zenith of enjoyment to me at that time😬.

When I came back home, my mom collected the money from me. I was shocked because despite that being a common practice among African mothers, my mother never does that. She counted 5 thousand naira from the money and gave me two thousand. She then gave me her own money to purchase a piggybank the following day and gave me the 5 thousand naira to put into the piggybank all in her presence. She then brought out a list of my so called budget and read it out loud:

• full chicken: two thousand
• two chivita: one thousand four hundred
• isi ewu: three thousand
• suya: one thousand

I was embarrassed

I hid my precious budget but she still managed to fish it out, talk about my mom's detective skills. She would make a name for herself as a police officer.

She then made remarks on how she's been observing my spending habits and how it was bad. She put it in such a way that I thought that too much spending was so bad that I could end up dead someday if I don't start saving money. Apart from detective skills she's also got persuasive skills. At the end of the thorough session with my mom I didn't feel as bad as I did for saving 5 thousand naira.

While my mom went for the fast approach which I couldn't adapt to when it came to my second salary(she almost spanked my on the back), my elder brother suggested a slower approach so that I would adapt. He explained to me rhah life is not all about buying food and eating food. Of course I knew that at the time, but my problem was lack of self control. So he came up with this :

*For my second salary, I would save 40% in the piggybank and spend 60%

*For my third salary, I would spend 50% and save 50%

*For my fourth, I saved 60% and spend 40%

I quit the job in my fifth month because I had gotten admission into the university to study medicine but one thing I learnt from all this was that apart from the fact that your savings can help you in the time of need, it actualy feels good on its own to save. The knowledge that you're not broke can greatly affect you mentally in a positive way and I mean it. Being broke, even if you don't have an immediate use for money can be scary af, bring broke breaks the heart 😂.

With that intense lecture from my mom and the very helpful coaching of my brother, I have become a shrewd spender and now only spend money on the things I truly need. This has also helped me become a better person with an improved knowledge on the purpose and value of money. I have now perfected the art of saving as I only spend 20 to 30% of my pocket money and save the rest. I sometimes even invest in some things. Although I have little knowledge about investments, I still think it is a step in the right direction.

Thanks for reading.
@surgeoncaspar